The Thorns of a Rose
by ThePinkLady16
Summary: Briar Jennings always wanted to work in corporate PR. However, she never dreamed she'd be the PR/Assistant/Babysitter to the Avengers. She also never thought she'd fall in love with 95 year old super soldier. When both of these things happen, plus the revelation a secret that will rock her world, she begins to wonder why she ended up where she did? Pepperony and Steve/OC. R
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 – Dog Days

Briar Jennings walked through the revolving glass door of the newly renovated Avengers Tower; formerly known as Stark Tower, it was symbol of how New York always rebuilt itself; even after the most tragic of events.

The lobby had a slow trickle of people coming and going on their daily business. Scientist, agents, and other people connected with Stark Industries and the Avengers.

Her heels clicked on the marble floors as she approached the receptionist desk and tried not too look as nervous as she felt. The young, blonde woman looked up from her computer screen with attitude written across her face.

"Can I help you?" she drawled out.

Briar resisted the urge to roll her eyes, "Hello, my name is Briar Holdsworth, and I am here too see Ms. Potts and Mr. Stark."

The receptionist immediately straightened up, "Oh, Miss Holdsworth, they're expecting you!" She quickly handed Briar pre made badge, "You'll be heading to the 75th floor. The elevator is around the corner to your left."

Briar responded with a tight smile and walked away.

The elevator moved faster than most, so Briar didn't have a chance to get her self or her thoughts together. As soon as she stepped off the elevator she was bombarded with the smells of freshly burnt pastries.

An extremely built (or cut) blond haired haired man, bounded around the corner chasing after what looked a robot carrying a burning toaster yelling, "You! Stop this moment. Those are my pastries you have run away with!"

The robot and the man went past her as if she was invisible. And for that she was eternally grateful. Briar stood in that spot for a moment, not sure of where to go after that. As if on cue, Pepper Potts, the _Pepper Potts, _came from around the same corner as the blonde giant and the robotic toaster thief had moment ago.

"Hello, you must be Briar. I am so sorry for the craziness. My name is Pepper Potts." Pepper greeted her as if all of what just happened was normal.

"It's nice to meet you Miss Potts."

"Please, call me Pepper. Why don't we go sit in the living room and talk? It shouldn't be any distractions there."

Briar followed Pepper through the penthouse marveling at the panoramic view of the city.

Pepper lead her into the sunken down living room. "Can I get you anything to drink? Coffee, tea, soda?"

"No ma'am. I'm fine." Briar replied. She was sure that if she swallowed anything right she'd throw up because she was so nervous.

"Great then we can start." Pepper said glancing over the notes in her lap. "You're a Howard and Yale graduate, who came out top of your class at both schools. You have bachelors degree in Mass Communications/Public Relations and Master's in Business Administration. You have an impressive resume, and your CIA file tells me that you've been in trouble with law except for a few parking tickets."

"My CIA file?" Briar asked. What the hell was in there?

"Yes. S.H.I.E.L.D. sent it over. When you work this closely with the US Government and with the Avengers, we have to know everything about you." Pepper said with out looking out. "Now, there's one important question, that I need you to answer as best as you can: How do you handle stress and high pressure situations?"

Briar paused for a moment, this was always the hardest question for her to answer, "Can I be honest?"

"Please."

"Although I do my best work when under pressure, a lot of stress isn't good for anyone, myself included. But I am getting better at handling high stress situations. I mean no one is boring learning how to deal with it. It comes with time."

Pepper closed the file. "Welcome to the team Briar."

Briar was stunned. She never thought she'd get the job, let alone be hired on the spot. "Me?"

"Yes you. S.H.I.E.L.D. only vetted 20 people, only 10 of them were qualified, and of those 10, Tony only liked two, and I only liked you. So yes, you."

"When do I start?" Briar asked.

"Now." Said someone from behind the duo. Briar and Pepper turned around to come face to face with Tony Stark.


	2. Chapter 2 Pop Tarts, Green Slime, and Ne

Chapter 2 – Pop Tarts, Green Slime, and New Apartments

"Now." Said someone from behind the duo. Briar and Pepper turned around to come face to face with Tony Stark.

Tony was totally engrossed in what looked like a transparent tablet, seemingly not aware that his new, or rather the team's, new publicist stood there slightly slack jawed.

"You're Iron Man!" She exclaimed like a five year old and not the dignified college graduate she was.

"Genius. Playboy. Billionaire. Philanthropist." He sighed as he took his attention away from his tablet and placed it solely on Briar. Tony sized her up. She was cute, gorgeous even, but something about her screamed "Innocent" and "Hands off" to Tony. Her outfit was professional, designer, but not gaudy and over the top. Her demeanor was nervous and almost panicked. Tony deduced that she was slightly overwhelmed by her settings and her new job.

"Kid you got the job. Relax and smile."

Briar grinned and took a deep breath, "I'm sorry. I just never dreamed I'd get an interview, let alone the job."

"Then why did you apply?" Tony asked as he gestured for the two women to sit back down then he plopped in a not so graceful way next to Pepper.

"My dad encouraged me to apply when he found about the opening through a co-worker. I guess he didn't want me coming back home after graduation."

"I completely understand, my parents gave me three months to find a job. What does your dad do?" Pepper asked.

"He works for the government. And please don't ask what branch? He never talks about his work."

This piqued Tony's curiosity. Then he started letting the pieces of the puzzle S.H.I.E.L.D. had left him fall into place. He had a theory, and generally his theory's were never wrong, but he would save his confirmation for later.

Tony sat up and then leaned over, "So has Pepper given you the 411?"

"I was just getting to that when you interrupted us." Pepper smiled. "I had gotten about 12% of the way through."

Tony rolled his eyes at the quip, but chose to ignore it. "Briar welcome aboard. I could give you the whole professional spiel that Pepper taught, but quite frankly I find it boring. So instead I'm going to be straight forward."

Briar nodded, "I'm all ears, Mr. Stark."

"Wonderful. The first thing is don't call me Mr. Stark. That was my father. Call me Tony. Hell, call me any thing. Just don't call me Mr. Stark." Tony said. "Secondly, I can't promise you won't get a few bumps and bruises on this job. You are dealing with two master assaisins, a Hulk, a Super Solider, a God, and me. A mad scientist with a flying suit of iron armor. So if your instinct is telling you to run, you may want to do just that."

Pepper interjected. "You will have a safe room in your office as well as your floor. I will also show you the other ones located around the building."

"My floor?"

"Geez Pep, I hadn't gotten to that yet." Tony pouted in a way only Tony Stark could. "Yea kid. I don't know if you are attached to your place or whatever, but because you are officially a part of the "Avengers Project". You kinda have to stay with us. The Avengers that is."

"What Tony is trying to say is. S. H. I. E. L. D. wants everyone to live in the same place for safety and security reasons. You will still be able to go where you want, travel, see family and friends, but your primacy residence for the forseeable future will be here at the tower. You will have your own floor, which I'll take you up to when you are done here. We can have movers come to your place today to help you with your things. However, you basically just need your clothes and what ever would make you feel at home. You place will have everything else you will need."

Briar was once again stunned speechless. "Oh my god. Wow… this is incredible."

Briar by no mean grew up poor. Her father's job, whatever it was, afforded her a certain level of luxury that could be classified as "upper middle class". She'd grown up in a gated community, gone to a prestigious private school, had everything she could have ever asked for, and a fully paid for college education with a decent sized allowance that allowed her to keep up with her peers and never go without during the school year. However, Stark Tower was a whole new level of opulence that she could have never imagined. She'd read the specs on it like everyone else in America. It was 91 floors tall and was a major part of the NYC skyline. It boasted 10 state of the art labs for Stark Ind. employees, two more private labs for Tony and Dr. Banner, 50 floors of offices for the scientist and administrative employees. The top 30 floors were private offices for NYC based S.H.I.E.L.D. employees, and the private living quarters for Tony and the Avengers.

It was magnificent to say the least.

And now she would be living here.

Working with Pepper Potts.

Working with the Avengers.

Briar felt herself get light headed and naseuos, "Umm, I'm sorry. But may I excuse myself to the ladies room?"

Pepper nodded and pointed down the hall to the closest bathroom. She watched Briar hurry off with a sympathetic look. "Nice going, Tony. I was trying ease into it and you just dropped it on her like a ton of bricks."

Tony rolled his eyes again, "It was like a band aid. You might as well get it over with."

It was Pepper's turn for eye rolling.

"Hey, Jarvis?"

"Yes, sir Mister Stark?" The voice of the British AI filled the room.

"Get me Briars _real _S. H. I. E. L. D. file. And do it as quickly as possible."

"Yes sir."

"Tony, what are you doing?" Pepper asked.

"I have a hunch and my hunches are usually never wrong…."

"You can't hack into S. H. I. E. L. D. again, Tony. If they are hiding anything from you, it's probably for a good reason." The CEO chided.

Tony tuned Pepper out and picked up the tablet he was working with earlier. Jarvis had hacked and pulled up what he was looking for in record time. "Ah hah! My hunch was right. As well as nice surprise. Thank you Jarvis!"

"You are welcome, Mister Stark."

Pepper didn't want to look but her curiosity got the best of her. "What is it?"

Without saying anything, Tony handed her the tablet and stood up, "While you mull over that, I'll be with Bruce in the lab."

Briar took deep breaths as her body started to return to normal. This was all to much. She never expected to get the job, and now, here she was getting ready to move in with the Avengers. She wanted to share the news with someone, but her friends couldn't keep a secret if their lives depended on it, her brother was on vacation, and her mother was probably busy...

The words of her father, however, played in her head. _'You can call me any time, Sweet Pea. I'll always answer.' _

Briar didn't want to bother him, but this was important. She pulled her phone out of the pocket of her blazer and hit the speed dial number in her contacts. The phone only rang a few times when a woman's voice answered.


End file.
